Downfall
Second Marker The film revolves around an alien artifact discovered by colonists on the planet Aegis VII. The artifact is identified as a possible "second Marker" and the colony asks for advice via radio, which prompts the arrival of the mining ship Ishimura. Unexplained Violence While the ship approaches, the colony already reports (via radio) "unexplained violence" among colonists. The Marker is brought aboard by order of Captain Mathius. Alissa Vincent (Nika Futterman), head of security, demands that Mathius (Jim Cummings) allow an investigation of the recent outbreak of violence. Mathius remains firm in the belief that nothing is amiss. However, one of the next scenes shows a miner in sickbay, who has killed two of his colleagues, being sedated as he struggles against his restraints and says he wants to be killed. Jen Meanwhile, on the planet, two miners check an outpost that has gone silent, while the Ishimura brings up a chunk of the planet to mine. The men discover something amiss and one goes in search of his wife, while his partner vanishes during a blackout. In his wife's room, the man, Colin Barrow, sees his beloved, Jen (Lia Sargent), commit suicide. As Barrow flees the facility in a shuttle bound for the Ishimura with the corpse of his wife, he is unaware of an alien presence attaching itself to his deceased wife. Samuel Irons The vessel piloted by Barrow crashes into the hangar just as he is killed by his mutated wife. Vincent and her team are dispatched to contain the situation but discover nothing aboard the small ship, then depart to find out what caused the crash. Down in the sickbay, the previously sedated man awakens to discover alien creatures mutating the corpses in the morgue, only to be killed. Hostilities begin to break out as members of a religious group, the Unitologists, beg for a glimpse of the Marker, a key icon in their belief; however, they are quickly dispersed by engineer Samuel Irons (Kevin Michael Richardson), a Unitologist himself, who suggests that they should not behave like fanatics. Dr. Terrence Kyne The situation turns grim throughout the ship as the chaos and body count rise. Dr. Terrence Kyne (Keith Szarabajka) says that the Marker is responsible for the colonists going insane, but Mathius is in denial because he would have to put the Marker back and face a court martial if the government knew they were in the restricted system. A confrontation between Mathius and Kyne leads to Mathius being accidentally killed by Kyne, who then flees. Things take a turn for the worse as control of the ship itself turns against the crew when the lifeboats are inexplicably launched empty and their communications systems destroyed, making any chance of rescue nonexistent. Hanson On the way to the bridge, a member of Vincent's team named Hanson (Phil Morris) eventually goes insane and kills teammate Shen (Kelly Hu), ending in Hanson being killed by Ramirez (Hal Sparks). Vincent, Irons, and Ramirez return to the bridge where they learn that the ship is almost entirely overrun; then they discover that Kyne is sabotaging the ship's engines, planning to crash the ship into the planet below in order to scuttle the ship and destroy the alien outbreak before it could leave the system. Vain Efforts On their way to confront Kyne, Vincent and the others discover survivors (Issac Clarke's girlfriend Nicole among them) being attacked by Necromorphs and go to save them. Using himself as bait, Irons buys time for Vincent and Ramirez to extract the scared crew members before being killed and turned into a Necromorph himself. The survivors are overwhelmed by more Necromorphs and Ramirez sacrifices himself to give Vincent a head start for the control room where Kyne is hiding. Vincent confronts Kyne who claims that his actions were necessary, and steals her weapon as she tries to save the ship, but learns that her efforts were in vain. Distress Beacon Vincent finds herself surrounded by Necromorphs. She then discovers that the creatures cannot come into close proximity with the artifact, realizing what has kept the aliens imprisoned on Aegis VII, but Vincent doesn't care and breaks down. Spurred on by a brief vision of Ramirez's ghost, Vincent leaves a video log that details the entire sequence of events, adding the message that the Marker and the Ishimura must be destroyed. She uploads the video log she made to the distress beacon, opens the airlock and activates the distress beacon on a downed shuttle just a few feet from the marker. The distress beacon launches into space and takes Vincent and the Necromorphs with it. Vincent's Fate Vincent's body drifts into the infinite as the song Twinkle Twinkle Little Star plays. The story ends just as the Kellion arrives and prepares to dock on the Ishimura, the beginning of Dead Space. Category:Dead Space Category:OVA Category:Horror